Honestly in this fic I've done more sometimes-alternate human psych than xenopsych, but then the main focus really is on the human end of things... Or the human end of the human-inhuman interface, with attendant culture clash and some problems that happen not because the two species are foreign to each other, but because they fit so well together that there are buttons there to be hit (the way your parents can hit your buttons so easily because they installed most of them).
Yes, I promise I'll get to Seira/Shinwoo eventually, I wasn't expecting this fic to explode on me.
If you haven't read Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart, I highly recommend it, but there's a passage... which is actually a spoiler, come to think of it. About the difference between two people who love the same human and two people who worship the same god.
It had been a long day. First precautions for the KSA meeting, then their usual duties. Then, the instant school got out? Instead of Takeo finally having a chance to get Tao alone and calm him down about whatever he'd realized during the morning's meeting, Tao had vanished. When he finally came home, he went right up to his room and Takeo had followed.
Asking Frankenstein for a contract after M-21 was rejected? Of all the…
But then, that was Tao in this place, tactician or not.
This was a place where he could survive being that impulsive. That honest.
When M-21 had asked Frankenstein if Takeo and Tao could stay, Takeo's major concerns were his sister and not angering Frankenstein. The Union was also a threat, but that would have been the case anywhere he and Tao tried to run. Frankenstein was the new and immediate danger, if one he was willing to accept for the sake of having protection from the Union, treatment to keep the modifications done because they were disposable from making him die young (he had a sister to think about) and a safehouse.
If this sanctuary was real, if he'd really found a safe place, he could have brought Teira here to keep the Union from killing her once they discovered Takeo was still alive. It was obvious within days that Frankenstein's ability to actually save patients was far beyond the Union's. The Union didn't see that as a priority.
Once Tao found Teira, if he had Tao's assistance (and maybe some of the others?) retrieving her? Maybe Frankenstein could even cure her.
Then he found out the truth about Dr. Aris.
It wasn't premeditated. She'd randomly called him brother and thought his reaction was funny. At the time, that just made it worse, but hearing M-21 talk about his comrades, now that he and Tao were almost brothers, it made him wonder.
Was Dr. Aris calling him that a Freudian slip? Did she have an older brother, before her mind was wiped? Was the Teira he knew really all an act? If there was anything left in him of the man he was before the Union (and he had to believe that, for the sake of M-21's dream), what about her? She'd turned to nanotechnology to give herself more power because she was also one of the Union's modified humans, and until the South Korea lab's breakthrough and execution, the Union couldn't modify people twice without the complications and side effects killing them.
The Dr. Aris made with the same mould that produced Dr. Crombel. Another researcher who thought human life had no value. Exactly what the Union wanted.
The Dr. Aris who designed Tao to die, who lied to him… he couldn't forgive that Dr. Aris.
But he had to wonder, now that M-21 had made him start thinking about before. Because most of the Union's researchers weren't modified. They weren't stupid enough to want to die in risky experiments, and the Union didn't want to risk their brains. Someone who was already a test subject? They needed to produce valuable data. Train one in the Union's scientific knowledge? They wouldn't live long enough to make much use of it.
But if the Union wanted a scientist, and that scientist refused to have anything to do with them? Why not take the risk of wiping and modifying them?
They were already dead just for knowing about the Union, forget defying it. Letting them die as themselves would just be a waste of raw materials.
Not that this possibility would make Takeo hesitate to pull the trigger if he had a Union scientist or one of the modified humans who actually believed what the Union told them in his sights.
The Union would have killed him (faster) if he ever showed any signs of hesitating to murder an assigned target.
If there was a decent person in there somewhere, they'd thank him for stopping them before they killed anyone else.
Frankenstein could keep gradually upgrading them because he knew the overall theory, so he could fit individual modifications into the picture and know the effects they'd have on various systems and compensate for them. The fact he cared about making sure Takeo and the others were stable meant they could survive adjusting to new modifications without the disruption to the body's homeostasis collapsing a body modified to increase performance at the cost of survival.
Takeo kept having to hit the range buried in one of the sublevels, to adjust to what the improvements did to his aim. A slight increase in strength could move the muzzle higher than expected.
He knew from his guns that systems with several delicate moving parts required a great deal of care to function properly. The human body was composed of trillions of parts, hundreds of systems, and that was just the physical body, what the medical information online he'd read wanting to see if there was anything to help Teira was allowed to know about.
If humans were psychic, then was the aura some modified humans had something that was already there, before the Union tampered with it? Was the placebo effect something like a noble's healing abilities, where the mind controlled the physical form?
Tao was the one modified for information gathering, but Takeo had always liked learning. Talking to people. Trying (and failing, because the Union was the Union) to protect them.
For now, he needed his gun. He needed to stay a weapon. He wanted this home, he wanted the school, and if he wanted to keep them he would have to grow strong enough to protect them.
But he didn't envy Frankenstein his power; he envied the fact Frankenstein was able to set it aside for centuries.
Takeo didn't want power.
He wanted Ye Ran.
He was a weapon. He'd killed so many people, and the few he thought he'd spared Shark had murdered on Krans' orders the instant his back was turned. He didn't deserve to be in a place like this. He shouldn't have spoken to Yuna and Shinwoo; he'd just put them in danger.
But Frankenstein, who did not tolerate dangers to his students, allowed him to join the school security team.
That was already so much, it felt like too much, but being a teacher? Running a school like this? A safe place, where people could learn without having to be afraid? He needed an education for that. He didn't even have a high school education, although for all he knew the person he was before had gone to college.
Did the person he was before love learning, or had he taken the possibility for granted?
M-21 needed the names of the M-series not because he cared about the past, but as proof they existed, that they were more than serial numbers, a hundred among the thousands the Union erased and used up, discarded as failures.
Takeo couldn't ask Tao to try to find out if Takeo truly had a sister. Not now. Not with the Union still out there, and paying attention to South Korea.
If the Union hadn't bothered to remember Takeo's name, if the Union didn't care that Takeo once had a life if not a family (according to Dr. Aris, but who knew if that meant anything?), then he wasn't going to remind them. He'd gotten enough people killed by the Union.
He understood why Tao had wanted the same kind of contract with the Boss he looked up to that Frankenstein had with him. Takeo thought that M-21 had really wanted a bond with him, not just the scientist, but hadn't felt right approaching him with a request like that and the two of them were a package deal, weren't they? They'd seen the bond between Frankenstein and Raizel and it was something to envy, but it was more than just that.
To be tied by blood would mean they had a right to be here, so he understood why M-21 and Tao would be tempted, when they still didn't quite understand why anyone would take them in and sacrifice for their sake.
Takeo knew why.
He would have done the same for Teira.
That was why he wasn't too worried when Frankenstein asked Takeo to remain downstairs for a moment and then gave M-21 a pointed goodnight with a request for him to tell Tao he'd better remember the rule about no recording where his master was present. Raizel was unruffled, and if he was supervising… no, it was unfair to Frankenstein to think that way. Even if he had used Raizel's presence in the lab as a prop when they'd first come to the house, hadn't he? To reassure them that the scientist was being supervised and wouldn't just do whatever he wanted to them.
The depressurizing high-tech equipment was a cookie machine, and seeing a scientist acting like a servant instead of… it had to have been deliberate, in hindsight. Something to keep them too boggled by how strange this place was for Tao and Takeo to think of it as a normal lab. For it to put them back in the same mindset of just agreeing to anything, knowing the alternative, as the Union's labs did. The clearly-calculated in hindsight first impressions they were given proved Frankenstein couldn't be an ordinary scientist: he definitely couldn't be a normal anything. Even the other nobles thought he was strange. The first time they got wound up over Frankenstein performing an experiment, it turned out to be having M-21 taste-test his ramyeon recipes?
Well, no, Takeo would definitely be wrong to think that it was all done for their sake. Raizel was Frankenstein's top priority, not them. But they were a priority, and Frankenstein had a long time to learn how to calm down scared patients and children.
"Takeo," Frankenstein said, sitting down.
"Yes, sir?"
"Master has expressed an interest in learning how to hug people, and I was wondering if you would be willing to assist."
Takeo blinked, and realized why the houseowner had sat down. Less intimidating.
"If you'd rather not, Tao already implied that he would be willing, but I think he might be a little energetic for Master to deal with on a first attempt."
True, Takeo thought, glancing at Raizel, who was tactfully ignoring the conversation. Also trying to avoid pressuring Takeo.
"Regis and Seira are nobles, which won't do, and my responses to physical contact are… atypical. Even before I started having to worry about contact poisons and skin cell samples. If you'd rather not, Takeo, I'll ask M-21, but I think you would be ideal."
Why wouldn't nobles do? If species mattered, then would M-21's werewolf heart be a problem? "Of course I'll help," Takeo said, realizing he was the best person for this in the household.
Frankenstein smiled at him, the Chairman's smile with his glasses on. "Thank you." He stood up, and bowed to his Master. "Master, if you would? I believe we should start with Takeo demonstrating proper technique, and it would be simplest if you stood up."
The Noblesse nodded regally and stood, following Frankenstein into the clear area near the fishtank. Takeo followed.
"Takeo, if you would?"
Raizel stood there, watching with the same look of focus he had when he was reading his textbooks or Frankenstein's gaming manuals. His expressions were slight, but Takeo's vision and attention to detail were enough to pick up the slight pursing of the lips and narrowing of the eyes. Carefully, Takeo took another step forward and hugged him.
The Noblesse just stood there. He didn't tense up as Takeo's arms wrapped around him, or give any signs of feeling uncomfortable. There was just no reaction or response.
He was shorter than Takeo, like Teira, so Takeo could hold him about the same way, but when he hugged her Teira always -
Frankenstein's voice was a welcome interruption. "The most basic definition of a hug is that one person's arms are wrapped around the other person, enough the one being embraced can feel some pressure, so they are aware they are being hugged," Frankenstein lectured. "Humans find this comforting for several reasons. The biochemical ones would be a great deal of trouble to emulate, so that will have to wait until you're feeling better. Some of the others are first, the practical: while you are hugging someone, an enemy would have to go through you to reach them."
He felt Raizel's nod.
When Raizel was the Noblesse, that was a significant barrier… but Takeo wished he wouldn't.
"Second, humans are, or had better be, hugged a great deal as small children by adults who are caring for and assisting them, so the hug becomes associated with safety, and the knowledge that they have help with whatever problems they are facing. Third, while a human is within someone's grasp, they are 'caught.' The person who has caught them could then proceed to harm them… but they don't; instead of harming, they help by offering comfort and support. This reminds people that they are with someone that they can trust, and helps them feel less nervous."
Takeo watched Raizel watch Frankenstein.
"For these reasons, a hug helps humans calm down by giving them reasons to be calm. Two humans working together can do more than one alone, so it isn't that problems will seem less difficult after a hug, but a hug proves those problems will be easier to overcome. In addition to the sense of relief, knowing that someone wants to help will make people happier because it reminds them that they are loved. Takeo, if you would pull Master in a little closer, please?"
"Yes," he said, restraining the urge to say, 'Forgive me, sir,' to Raizel.
When Raizel let him, Takeo felt himself relax a little, relieved that Raizel wasn't unwilling, he just didn't seem to know what to do with being hugged.
Well, wasn't Takeo here to help him with that?
"This should be treated as a second stage." Frankenstein waited a few seconds, watching and giving Takeo a nod of approval when he adjusted Raizel's position. "The next step is to demonstrate how a human would react to being hugged. Takeo, if you would, please release Master."
Takeo nodded and took a step back.
"Master, when you're ready, please hug Takeo so Takeo can demonstrate proper behavior when being hugged. How to tell whether or not a human is open to being hugged without using your power is outside the scope of this lecture, I'm afraid. Master. I will find out which members of the household are alright with you hugging them if the situation calls for it and inform you. Some cultures often exchange quick hugs as greetings, especially among family members. I'll write an overview of the subject for you later, but since Takeo is willing to assist we will focus on the practical."
There was a slight frown on the Noblesse's face as he put his arms around the enhanced human, clearly trying to get it right. How seriously he took this made Takeo smile, although he tried to hide it so Raizel didn't think Takeo was laughing. This level of deliberation in how he moved was probably the closest Raizel would ever come to being awkward.
"Don't worry, Master, this is a first attempt and it shouldn't be too elaborate at this stage regardless," Frankenstein smiled, looking amused and pleased that they were both doing well.
Takeo relaxed into Raizel's hug, trying to encourage him.
"During the first stage initial embrace Takeo demonstrated, it's normal for a human to tense up for a moment as they register that they have been 'caught.' If they don't relax within a couple of seconds, you should release them. If a hug is working, then you will feel them gradually relax. If they relax and press closer to you, or lean against you and allow you to support them, then they are pleased that they are being hugged and would like you to continue. Often, the person being hugged will return the hug almost instantly…" From the look at Takeo, that was his cue, so he wrapped his arms around Raizel, putting his head on Raizel's shoulder. "But I'm afraid these three lost their memories of when they were hugged on a regular basis, so it might take them some time to remember what to do. So don't worry that much about your technique, Master."
They'd be relearning it along with him, Takeo thought, and then realized that was part of what Frankenstein was doing.
This lesson wasn't only for his Master.
"A hug that moves to the second stage will last an unknown length of time. If either party wishes to pull away, it's good to give a final squeeze, or a pat on the back, or some other sign – Takeo?"
Takeo took that as a cue to demonstrate and squeezed Raizel before letting go.
With barely even a fraction of the strength he had, or that the Noblesse could endure. He just wanted him to feel it.
"A good response to that signal is to squeeze them one final time, to again remind them that you care for them and are happy to have them close, but then to cease applying pressure and let go. Part of the message is that they are wanted, but not trapped. They are free to rely on you when they need a hug or other help, but also to leave if they wish."
Like all of them here, Takeo thought, watching the scientist as he seemingly ignored Takeo to watch his master's face and see if he was following.
"If someone is holding out their arms – Takeo?"
Demonstration time again.
"That means they are asking for a hug. Nod, stand up or give some other sign that you are willing to give them a hug. Open your own arms and embrace them as they embrace you."
Raizel followed the directions, dignified and elegant as ever, but this wasn't the serene focus he had with cups of tea, this was the focus he had when he wanted ramyeon.
It took Takeo a moment to remember to relax, feeling almost stunned by it. That was Raizel's cue that yes, he was supposed to relax too.
A noble's grace let him fit into Takeo's arms easily, as though he was meant to be there. Takeo felt his arms moving up Raizel's back, tucking that black head under his chin.
And the Noblesse let him, as though it was only natural.
"Once both of you have found a comfortable position, it would be natural for you to stay in that position, Master, but a hug is a form of non-verbal communication. While stillness and listening are important parts of a conversation, it is also important to respond so the other person knows that you care what they have to say. If the person you are hugging shifts slightly, move a little to accommodate the new position, in order to convey that yes, you do want to be close to them. A hug is a way of reminding people that you care for them, so it is also a good idea to periodically give them some reminder that you are here. Takeo, if you could demonstrate?"
Demonstrate?
Reminding Raizel that he was here, that Takeo wanted to be here, to protect him?
A little small squeeze, and he felt Raizel stiffen, gathering himself up a bit, before deciding that this wasn't the same as the cue to end the hug when Takeo didn't start to pull away.
Carefully, Raizel squeezed him back.
Takeo found himself taking a deep breath, and his eyes widened.
How had he not noticed before? Raizel didn't smell human.
Of course he wouldn't. There wouldn't be any sweat or oil on his skin to emit pheromones or natural odors. That would be inelegant.
There was the clean scent of the fabrics of his shirt and jacket, warmed by his skin. The tea Takeo smelled probably came from the jacket too – all that steam would have carried some of the scent with it.
"Ah, you've noticed he doesn't have a natural scent," Frankenstein said, nodding.
That was what made Takeo realize that he'd been sniffing Raizel. He blushed, and pulled back. "Sorry, sir."
"No, exchanging scents is one of the biochemical purposes of a hug. Human scents are very individual, and humans also have very good senses of smell. Your subconscious wants to know what he smells like so it can recognize him as a friend, and tagging him with your scent serves the same function. My natural scent is a little too attractive, so I wear a cologne that emulates a less distracting one."
Raizel looked at the scientist questioningly.
Takeo hadn't seen Frankenstein pale often. "Forgive me, Master, but while you attend a high school that would not be a good idea. That reminds me, I should warn Miss Seira…"
"Does that mean we need to be careful about touching them?" Takeo asked, worried.
"No, a noble's power will remove anything from their body unless they want it there. This includes a human's scent markers. A noble that smells like a human… Ahem." Frankenstein pulled himself together: had that been embarrassment? "The human subconscious seems to regard it as a signal that the noble is open to human advances. Intimate advances. Currently, while Master and Miss Seira have a great many admirers among the students, no one has fallen excessively in love with them, the way they would have if Master and Miss Seira were human. If, for instance, Miss Seira was to walk across campus wearing another student's sports jacket, that would change. You've heard of love at first sight and other cases where people who barely know each other are suddenly very devoted?"
"Yes?" Really?
"Yes," Frankenstein said, wincing. "Teenagers are vulnerable to sudden infatuation to begin with: to make them think Master or Miss Seira were available would simply be cruel, especially when Miss Seira… well."
Miss Seira was a very nice and thoughtful person overall, but even Takeo knew that Seira had zero patience with being hit on, probably because Rael had used up even a noble's lifetime supply.
As for Raizel, what would he do? The Noblesse, break someone's heart? What was he supposed to do surrounded by a few dozen admirers? Or more! Even thinking about it made Takeo wince: poor Raizel!
The eyes of Raizel's bonded grew darker with anger and disgust. "I wasn't the one who discovered this: the criminals back in my day knew that trick and used their 'inability' to stop humans from adoring them not just as a way to obtain gifts, but justify their possession of goods obtained by theft, mind control and the sale of power."
"Frankenstein," Raizel said.
"Yes, Master?"
"The lesson."
"Ah, yes." Hmm. "We should cover how to hug someone while sitting down, and since a standard hug from a noble won't be quite as effective as one from a human for various reasons, depending on how we're doing I'll cover a few of the simpler techniques for helping someone relax that can be incorporated into a hug."
Sitting on the couch, Raizel looked down at the enhanced human curled up against him and then, eyes slightly wide, up at Frankenstein.
He felt his master's query, and yes, he had known that this was something that could happen, especially when Takeo had clearly had a worrying day under his perpetual effort to remain calm and not trouble others, and no, Frankenstein hadn't thought to mention it.
He wouldn't want to get Master's hopes up; that way lay disappointment instead of pleasant surprises. When Master was kindly doing such a favor for him, he wanted Master to enjoy it.
Frankenstein couldn't.
Being touched bothered Frankenstein. It wasn't just his OCD and mysophobia. If a vampire could touch him, then it could almost certainly take his blood. Then he had the Union and their arsenal of contact poisons to worry about, even before they used his research to unleash enhanced plagues. And what they would do to the poor children if they got a gene sample from him and he couldn't retrieve it!
Frankenstein had an entirely rational paranoia about anyone touching him, ingrained over a millennium of watching his back. Master was the only exception, for a host of reasons. It wasn't even a matter of trust alone – the connection between them made it impossible for anyone to impersonate Cadis Etrama di Raizel.
Having anyone else's arms wrapped around him made his skin crawl.
But, it was the best way to make Tao feel better, so he'd simply had to conceal his urgent desire to get it off me. It wasn't that difficult, when he had plenty of practice concealing Dark Spear's agony.
Simply… uncomfortable. Very unpleasant. And he needed to do his best to avoid hugging any of them ever again, because he could not take the risk that his control would slip and Tao would find out just how much that had bothered him. Thankfully, if his mind was under enough strain that get it off me would turn into kill it, they'd never be able to get in grabbing range of him in the first place.
Frankenstein was responsible for most of the care of the humans in his household, with Master's agreement. After all, Frankenstein was a human, and all of Master's knowledge of parenting came from what he'd seen in the minds of clan leaders, when the Noblesse was prohibited from making any unprofessional use of that information.
However, after reading the overview on trauma recovery Frankenstein had prepared for him, Master had made it clear that whenever M-21 improved enough to seek out physical contact with either of them, Master would handle it.
It was suboptimal: there was no way around that. Master didn't have the instincts or biochemistry for this. However, Master had stated that he would simply have to learn this, the way there were so many other things he would have to learn in this world, and he relied on Frankenstein's ability to teach him. Master would not permit Frankenstein to suffer when Master could shield him from it without spending his lifeforce, and that was that.
He hadn't gone against Master's orders and offered a hug to Tao, but he had bent them by saying that it would be alright if Tao hugged him. In his defense, Tao had been upset enough to offer his soul and it was centuries since Frankenstein last found himself in a situation like that off the battlefield. He'd thought his reaction would be less severe.
Unfortunately, stress aggravated such things.
Under the circumstances, he could only be thankful for his Master's assistance. He could only be relieved that his inability to handle this on his own was making his Master happy instead of burdening his fragile soul.
This time.
His master sighed, and pointed out that, "He is sleeping."
Frankenstein blinked. Ah, yes. Given Master's power, Frankenstein being upset was much more likely to wake Raizel from hibernation than someone talking nearby. He could see how it might not occur to Raizel that humans were different. But, 'Stop being hard on yourself, you'll wake the baby?'
Clearly it was possible for his noble to be this cute, incontrovertible evidence was right here in front of him.
Seeing Frankenstein's smile, Master looked back down at the sleeping Takeo.
Adult nobles did not normally sleep; they hibernated to recover from injury. It seemed that a sleeping human Takeo's age inspired the same instinctive protectiveness as an injured child, without the panic and anger that a child's pain or severe injury would cause a noble parent.
No, Frankenstein corrected himself. Takeo might be physically stable, but the injuries the Union dealt to his selfhood were still healing. To senses far more fundamental to Raizel than sight, Takeo was still scarred and far too thin, even if the wounds had healed over and he was beginning to put on a little more weight.
His master's aura was agitated, feeling the need to do something for Takeo and not certain of what to do. "It is enough," Frankenstein reassured him. "He feels safe with you."
The trouble was that his master knew that he was dying, and was not sure he could keep Takeo and the other children safe anymore. Give them the sanctuary they needed, they deserved, in order to heal.
It wasn't the physical contact that made Takeo falling asleep like this significant to his master. The fact that Takeo was willing to sleep in his master's home, under his protection – their protection, Frankenstein corrected himself, feeling his master's slight displeasure that Frankenstein wasn't appreciating his own significance – already meant a great deal to Raizel.
What left his master mentally flailing and reaching out to Frankenstein for help under an only-mostly-unperturbed façade was seeing this. Since Frankenstein moved into his manor, Raizel had learned how to tune out his psychic abilities most of the time, the way Frankenstein did. It wasn't just a courtesy to his human guest, but a relief to his master. So although he knew that there were five children (an impossible bounty of them to a noble, at least until humans started taking advantage) who felt safe in this house, having an intellectual awareness of that was different from seeing Takeo rest like this, knowing he was in Raizel's grasp and still without any trace of fear.
When Raizel had to isolate himself because they were afraid.
"Noble children sleep," his master reminded him as he looked down at Takeo's unlined, peaceful face. Even so distracted, he knew that Frankenstein was interested in such things. "When they are growing."
Growing, healing. In the sanctuary Raizel provided. Even in his arms, instead of curling up and hiding somewhere out of the sight of such a deadly being. For Takeo to fall asleep here, without even the token defense of a wall, was proof he was unafraid.
He could feel how much it affected his master, and he smiled, glad to feel how warm Raizel felt, after so long alone, driven into hermitage by the painful stings of others' fears.
His master would do anything for Takeo, even give him a piece of his dwindling soul.
Fascinating, from a historical perspective. He'd known theoretically that this was the impetus behind the first contracts. First nobles taking a human's blood so they would know if the human was in trouble and could give them the strength to survive, then perhaps humans giving it since it was something their protectors seemed to want? And they wished to repay them somehow, even though it was not necessary.
A noble's soul was their life, just as much as a human's body.
Raizel needed to use up his lifeforce to heal himself, but he was unique. Even he used to be able to heal, he was almost recovered from the executions of a few clan leaders before he met Frankenstein. Then performing an Awakening and whatever sent him into hibernation for that many centuries, so close together? If Raizel wasn't the Noblesse, he would have remained in eternal sleep. Yet Raizel didn't want to escape true death; he wanted Frankenstein to be alright, even if it meant the destruction of his soul.
Frankenstein winced when he realized. Intellectually of course he'd already guessed, but to know?
Death was a fact of human existence, but not noble existence. Not until recently.
The grief of losing children one after the other killed humans.
"You died," Raizel confirmed, sadness in his red eyes at a memory that was not his own, scenes he or a previous Noblesse had seen in the minds of clan leaders. "You died, and took pieces of them with you."
Them, not us?
"I am the first Noblesse to make a Contract." Let a human feel that they were dying? It would make them sad. Yet after living together with him for ten years, Raizel could not refuse Frankenstein anything when he wanted it, knowing the consequences. "Urokai Agvain and Zarga Siriana were kept safe on Lukedonia, and then the Union insulated them." Left them thinking that humans were not worth loving. "They did not understand why Seira's parent died just for the hope the humans would be spared. Perhaps this is the other reason why the Lords knew that for the sake of nobles, humans must prosper and grow stronger."
"Did they not explain why?" Frankenstein demanded. "Not even to the Noblesse?"
Raizel shook his head. "Nobles must not abuse the weak. If there was another reason humans must not be abused, it was not necessary for the Noblesse to know this. The Previous Lord often attempted to explain his reasoning, but the other Lords had no way of making nobles understand their thoughts." Psychic powers couldn't show a chain of thought step-by-step: they conveyed snatches of memory, images and feelings, not reasoned arguments (not without words to send). And when the Lords were the only nobles to reason for so many millions of years? "They gave orders, as necessary for the welfare of the nobles, and those who disobeyed were harming the nobles."
"…and a suggestion from a reigning monarch is an order." No wonder the traitor clan leaders didn't seem to grasp that the Previous Lord's request for the clan leaders to join him in eternal sleep was a purely voluntary request, even if it was a plan to secure the future of the nobles.
"If you outlive me," Raizel said, contemplating Takeo. He went silent, without words for what that would mean to him.
Not something so unprecedented. Because the humans nobles loved and protected? They died. If Raizel could keep them safe enough, could die knowing that they would be safe, would be able to take care of themselves? Had any noble ever had that good fortune?
By the standards of nobles, Frankenstein was the first human to live long enough to grow up.
"You must live," Raizel said. "For nobles to survive, humans must also survive. You must be well, for us to be well."
He realized that, "Lukedonia wasn't created only to protect humans." The two species were separated not just for human independence, but noble survival? How many had they lost, while humans quickly evolved to grow more effective at tugging noble heartstrings?
"It was necessary to protect nobles from the loss of our honor," when beings of soul needed integrity to survive, over long eons, "and the loss of you. Humans were the ones who must be protected. When humans are no longer ones who need to be protected…" Raizel lifted a hand, and then realized that if he moved to neaten Takeo's hair it might wake him.
His master did know that being messy didn't bother the others as much as it bothered Frankenstein, but it was something he could do for Takeo. Grasping the strands telekinetically for a mere second or two wasn't a great expenditure of power.
"You do not need to protect me," Raizel said, looking back up at Frankenstein when Takeo's hair was neatly tucked against his back, instead of some of it fallen over his front to be blown around by the air conditioning.
Frankenstein nodded, meeting Raizel's eyes squarely. "It is something I do of my own will."
His master nodded, utterly dignified and every bit as content, the slightest of smiles on his lips. "I accept your will."
If someone needed to be protected, then both Raizel and Frankenstein felt they had no choice. It was something that must be done, no matter what either of them wanted. But to have someone want to protect you?
Frankenstein wasn't a noble. Raizel was under no obligation to send those clan leaders away, or spend his life to Awaken Frankenstein so he could free himself from Dark Spear.
It was something Raizel chose to do, first because that was simply the kind of person he was, and second because he wanted to save Frankenstein. He chose to pay that price because Frankenstein mattered to him.
To need to be protected was shameful weakness, in anyone but a child. It stung, to know that someone else was suffering for your sake out of mere obligation. That was part of why Regis and Seira were so determined to grow up quickly, and why the three enhanced humans wanted power at almost any price.
They did not want Raizel and Frankenstein to need to protect them, and Frankenstein understood. If something was done out of need or obligation, then it was not done by choice. That person would do only the minimum they felt they had to do.
No, more than that, they didn't want Raizel to die out of mere obligation to them. They wanted to be people Raizel and Frankenstein did not need to protect. Because that meant that when the two of them let the Union's throwaway lives remain under their roof, it was because they wanted them here.
The way Raizel had wanted Frankenstein to stay just as much as Frankenstein did when he let that drop fall into Raizel's tea. Telling himself it was a mere symbol, as though giving blood to a noble could ever be just a symbol.
Unless human mental defenses became just that powerful, true. If human immortality became standard? Then a human could give a noble their blood and neither of them would have to be afraid. The human of having their soul violated. The noble of soul-shattering grief.
Frankenstein chuckled. "And I thought my existence was a threat or a challenge to the nobles. Well, I suppose it was. To the nobles I despised." To the ones who wanted humans to stay weak, who wanted power over humans despite the cost to the nobles, in precious lives and sacred honor.
To the Previous Lord, Frankenstein must have represented hope.
Raizel nodded, pleased that Frankenstein finally understood. There were a great number of things his master wanted him to understand because he thought 'Franken' would like them, and had no idea how. It was one more reason to be glad his master was able to take literature classes, and gain more familiarity with words. It was why he never pressed Raizel for answers unless he was starting to grow desperate, because Frankenstein wanting something when Raizel couldn't figure out how to give it to him upset his master and emotional turmoil didn't help anyone with difficult engineering problems.
Thankfully, Raizel still had a traditional noble's sense of time, so he wasn't getting frustrated with himself for how long it was taking him to figure out how to convey those things. If it got to be more than a century, then Raizel might start to feel he was letting Frankenstein down, but Frankenstein was certain it wouldn't take Raizel anywhere near that long to get better at human communication, now that he was living in the human world, interacting with normal humans for several hours every day and attending classes that met Frankenstein's standards.
His master was not stupid, he thought fondly.
As he'd told Ragar so long ago, humans might be in trouble if nobles began to think… and at the time he hadn't known what a noble's mind was like. As a teacher, that kind of wasted potential irritated him.
Heh, Frankenstein thought, smirking. He supposed this was what drove Tao to screams of anguish when he got a look at the system specs of the laptop Frankenstein built for Master. Frankenstein had to be menacing at Tao to keep him from installing any more programs on it.
User interfaces were designed to be intuitive for humans. Not to mention that the simpler the programs on the laptop, the less likely Master was to break anything while trying to figure it out. He did not want Master to start thinking that he needed to not experiment with technology so he didn't break Frankenstein's things. That was why the window handle had been such a disaster.
Master, who had spent so long not letting himself wonder about what might be seen beyond that window, had developed the spirit of experimentation to figure out how to sync his smartphone with the printer in the computer room thinking it might be used to 3-d print ramyeon! It was Ikhan who told him about it, knowing that the Chairman worried about how Rai was doing, and as an educator it was moments like these that made him realize, "Damn, I'm good."
Raizel looked down at Takeo again, where the enhanced human was curled against his side. Then up at Frankenstein. It didn't take their bond for Frankenstein to read the question in his eyes.
He smiled. "Of course, Master. As soon as I come home from running a little errand." Now that Rael had rejoined them and Karias was still waiting in the wings in case they were attacked or Rael misbehaved, he could finally make a trip he'd been planning since he obtained Crombel's data.
Master didn't believe him about the 'little errand' part of that for a second, but his anticipation of Frankenstein's promise distracted him. Master did warn him that, "If the children begin talking about organizing search parties again, I will be forced to text you." Master hoped it wouldn't distract Frankenstein in battle, but Master was very disappointed in him for forgetting that there were children who would be worried when he spent so long secretly laughing at Dr. Aris and Yuri.
He smiled. "Of course, Master."